Articulated Light: The Emergence of Abstract Film in ... - Monoskop
Articulated Light: The Emergence of Abstract Film in ... - Monoskop
Articulated Light: The Emergence of Abstract Film in ... - Monoskop
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
H i I la Rebay and the Guggenheim Nexus<br />
Cecile Starr<br />
Hilla Rebay, 1944<br />
Jordan Belson, Music <strong>of</strong> the Spheres, 1977<br />
Hilla Rebay, Alsace-born artist and daughter <strong>of</strong> German Baron von Ehrenwiesen, came to America<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1927 and with<strong>in</strong> a few years had pa<strong>in</strong>ted the portrait <strong>of</strong> m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g millionaire Solomon R . Guggenheim,<br />
conv<strong>in</strong>ced him to collect "non-objective" pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs and started plans for the New York Museum that<br />
now bears his name . Her role <strong>in</strong> promot<strong>in</strong>g early abstract films <strong>in</strong> this country, though paltry compared<br />
to the work she did on behalf <strong>of</strong> Kand<strong>in</strong>sky, Chagall and Klee, deserves at least pass<strong>in</strong>g recognition<br />
<strong>in</strong> the history <strong>of</strong> American avant-garde film . That role is too <strong>of</strong>ten obscured by gossip, ridicule and<br />
scorn . Was she Guggenheim's mistress? I surely don't know. Many women have been the<br />
mistresses <strong>of</strong> millionaires but left no significant impr<strong>in</strong>t on the world <strong>of</strong> art . Was she prone to<br />
outrageous attacks <strong>of</strong> criticism and rage? It appears so . Dw<strong>in</strong>ell Grant, who worked as Rebay's<br />
assistant for about a year (1941-42), <strong>of</strong>ten said that he left the job to avoid hav<strong>in</strong>g a nervous<br />
breakdown . Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, one <strong>of</strong> her lifelong friends, rema<strong>in</strong>ed undeterred by her outbursts<br />
and even learned how to calm her. Many art curators have had wildly uneven personalities ; Rebay<br />
was the first <strong>in</strong> this country to show a passionate <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> abstract art and to <strong>in</strong>clude film as a<br />
serious, <strong>in</strong>tegral part <strong>of</strong> a major museum .<br />
As early as 1930, Rebay had stated her <strong>in</strong>tention to show abstract motion pictures <strong>in</strong> her proposed<br />
museum. She preferred the term "non-objective," her own translation <strong>of</strong> the German word<br />
gegenstandlos, which Kand<strong>in</strong>sky had used as early as 1911 . Such an, she felt, had a spiritual<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>, whether based on geometrical or freely-<strong>in</strong>vented forms . When the Gallery <strong>of</strong> Non-Objective<br />
Pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g opened <strong>in</strong> 1939 on East 54th Street (orig<strong>in</strong>ally it was to have been called the 'Temple <strong>of</strong><br />
Non-Objectivity"), she planned to establish a film center there . Frank Lloyd Wright's plans for the<br />
now-famous Fifth Avenue museum <strong>in</strong>cluded a basement floor devoted entirely to a <strong>Film</strong> Center and<br />
<strong>Light</strong> Institute which was to conta<strong>in</strong> an archive <strong>of</strong> pioneer<strong>in</strong>g non-objective films and a studio where<br />
contemporary film artists could have free access to equipment to make films .' (It was also to conta<strong>in</strong><br />
a cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g automatic show <strong>of</strong> Charles R . Dockum's Mobile Color projections, the eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>ventor's<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>al system <strong>of</strong> controlled, repeatable compositions <strong>in</strong> colored light.)<br />
Three important filmmakers played major roles <strong>in</strong> Rebay's plans for the proposed film center: Hans<br />
Richter, Oskar Fisch<strong>in</strong>ger and Norman McLaren . Like Rebay herself, all three had begun successful<br />
careers <strong>in</strong> Europe before com<strong>in</strong>g to the United States . Perhaps all three felt as she did when she<br />
first arrived here : "I am too modern for this country."<br />
Rebay's association with Hans Richter began <strong>in</strong> 1913, when her first pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g studio turned out to<br />
be next to his . Both were then portrait pa<strong>in</strong>ters ; their early draw<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> one another are now <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Rebay Collection <strong>of</strong> the Guggenheim Museum . "Richter pa<strong>in</strong>ts great th<strong>in</strong>gs," she declared at the<br />
time, and when he was drafted as a cannoneer <strong>in</strong> 1915, Rebay wrote her father ask<strong>in</strong>g for help <strong>in</strong><br />
gett<strong>in</strong>g Richter transferred to a less dangerous assignment . When Richter was severely wounded,<br />
then <strong>in</strong>valided out <strong>of</strong> the German army, she wrote aga<strong>in</strong> with some concern : " . . .the poor fellow . . .<br />
does not have long to live ."2<br />
Independently, Rebay and Richter became converts to abstract art <strong>in</strong> 1916, and <strong>in</strong> January 19173<br />
Rebay wrote to her brother : "We are now the <strong>in</strong>novative ones <strong>of</strong> an important period. My friend Arp<br />
is probably the best, and Richter is also one <strong>of</strong> them-wonderful artists ." Richter <strong>in</strong>troduced Rebay<br />
to Eggel<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Berl<strong>in</strong>, and she was among the first to see their sem<strong>in</strong>al abstract films . Richter and<br />
Rebay lost touch with each other until 1939, when she helped him leave Switzerland (he'd become<br />
a refugee), by <strong>in</strong>vit<strong>in</strong>g him to lecture at the New York Museum she then headed . For the museum's<br />
film collection she purchased from him his Rhythm 21 (1924) and Eggel<strong>in</strong>g's Diagonal Symphony<br />
(1924-25) . With<strong>in</strong> a year or so, Richter had become director <strong>of</strong> the newly founded <strong>Film</strong> Institute at<br />
New York's City college, where he rema<strong>in</strong>ed for 15 years . <strong>The</strong> films he made <strong>in</strong> the United States<br />
were f<strong>in</strong>anced <strong>in</strong> part by Peggy Guggenheim, Solomon's niece, who also had a modern art gallery<br />
and collection, now adm<strong>in</strong>istered by the Guggenheim Museum .<br />
Oskar Fisch<strong>in</strong>ger had come to the U .S . <strong>in</strong> 1936, partly to get away from Nazi Germany (which had<br />
outlawed abstract art) and partly to cont<strong>in</strong>ue his filmmak<strong>in</strong>g work with<strong>in</strong> the Hollywood <strong>in</strong>dustry. His<br />
efforts to fit <strong>in</strong>to the rout<strong>in</strong>ized production systems at Paramount, MGM and the Disney Studio<br />
ended <strong>in</strong> Fisch<strong>in</strong>ger's withdrawal <strong>in</strong> each case . Hilla Rebay, who considered him the best <strong>of</strong> all<br />
abstract filmmakers, brought him to New York <strong>in</strong> 1938 to make recommendations for the planned<br />
film center. He advised among other th<strong>in</strong>gs, a half-spherical auditorium, "like a planetarium," which<br />
would produce "a cosmic feel<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> endless space without perspective" (<strong>The</strong> auditorium that was<br />
later built <strong>in</strong> the Frank Lloyd Wright museum bore a strik<strong>in</strong>g resemblance to Fisch<strong>in</strong>ger's<br />
recommendation .)<br />
By 1940 Rebay had purchased ten Fisch<strong>in</strong>ger films for the museum's collection, and had shown<br />
them at the occasional "film concerts" held periodically at the museum . In return for his gift <strong>of</strong> a<br />
pr<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> An Optical Poem, Rebay sent him a check for $250 . But when he wanted back<strong>in</strong>g for a<br />
100-m<strong>in</strong>ute abstract film that would cost between $100,000 and $200,000, that sort <strong>of</strong> largesse<br />
7<br />
was out <strong>of</strong> the question . As Rebay expla<strong>in</strong>ed later <strong>in</strong> her correspondence with John Whitney,<br />
Solomon Guggenheim was not <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> film as an art form ; the small sums that she managed<br />
to send filmmakers <strong>in</strong> the form <strong>of</strong> stipends, grants and pr<strong>in</strong>t purchases were about as far as she<br />
could stretch her personal prerogatives .<br />
Norman McLaren, who had started his film career as a young Scotsman work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> England for<br />
John Grierson's governmental documentary unit, came to the U .S . as a pacifist at the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
World War II . His two years <strong>in</strong> New York City might have been bleak <strong>in</strong>deed, had he not met Hilla<br />
Rebay at the 54th Street gallery. When she <strong>in</strong>dicated that she would gladly look at some <strong>of</strong> his<br />
work, he quickly created two short films just for that purpose . <strong>The</strong>se were Loops and Dots (1940),<br />
both <strong>of</strong> which he made by draw<strong>in</strong>g pictures and sound directly onto 35mm film . When Rebay<br />
purchased a pr<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> each and agreed to show them <strong>in</strong> an upcom<strong>in</strong>g film program, McLaren went<br />
home and made three more-Stars and Stripes, Boogie-Doodle and Scherzo . (Later they were<br />
released <strong>of</strong>ficially by the National <strong>Film</strong> Board <strong>of</strong> Canada, where McLaren had accepted what he<br />
called: "a perfectly marvelous opportunity," once aga<strong>in</strong> work<strong>in</strong>g for John Grierson .)<br />
McLaren also gave technical and general advice for the museum's first film shows, and even set up<br />
a fire-pro<strong>of</strong>, sound-pro<strong>of</strong> projection box <strong>in</strong> the gallery itself-which he felt provided better atmosphere<br />
and surround<strong>in</strong>gs than a theater. <strong>Film</strong>s by Richter, Eggel<strong>in</strong>g, Fisch<strong>in</strong>ger and McLaren himself were<br />
shown at these "Concerts <strong>of</strong> Non-Objectivity." I once asked Dw<strong>in</strong>ell Grant if his films had been<br />
shown, and his answer was no . He'd been there only as the projectionist. Marie Menken attended<br />
the programs too, as Rebay's secretary; at the time she was an abstract pa<strong>in</strong>ter who hadn't yet<br />
ventured <strong>in</strong>to filmmak<strong>in</strong>g (and when she did, her film work would be as uncredited camera operator<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1943 for Willard Maas's semi-abstract Geography <strong>of</strong> the Body) . Menken <strong>in</strong>troduced her friend<br />
Francis Lee to Rebay on one occasion, and he was later awarded a stipend for filmmak<strong>in</strong>g . Small<br />
grants also were given to John and James Whitney, Harry Smith and Jordan Belson <strong>in</strong> the mid-<br />
1940s .<br />
"I had great difficulty to <strong>in</strong>troduce film at all," Hilla Rebay wrote the young John Whitney <strong>in</strong> 1944,<br />
add<strong>in</strong>g that Mr. Guggenheim was <strong>in</strong>terested mostly <strong>in</strong> pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs . (Readers should keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that<br />
<strong>in</strong> 1929, when Guggenheim had agreed to let Rebay buy a collection <strong>of</strong> Kand<strong>in</strong>skys and Klees and<br />
the like, he was the pity and scorn <strong>of</strong> his wealthy friends . <strong>The</strong>y thought he was throw<strong>in</strong>g his money<br />
away on worthless geometry from hateful, tasteless Germany, at a time when everyth<strong>in</strong>g that was<br />
important <strong>in</strong> modem art had to come from Paris .)<br />
"If I had the means," Rebay cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong> her 1944 letter to John Whitney, " I would myself help the<br />
c<strong>in</strong>ematic workers <strong>in</strong> order to make artists out <strong>of</strong> them and put them on the map-and so, at least<br />
get the world <strong>in</strong>terested." She urged Whitney to look at Fisch<strong>in</strong>ger's films, to learn form and space<br />
relationships, to avoid decorative patterns . "<strong>The</strong> real issue," she concluded, "is to touch the soul ."<br />
Five years later Solomon Guggenheim died, and Rebay was removed from the museum's<br />
directorship . <strong>The</strong> museum's film collection <strong>of</strong> about two dozen films <strong>in</strong> various stages <strong>of</strong> disrepair<br />
and dis<strong>in</strong>tegration was eventually donated to the Library <strong>of</strong> Congress .<br />
1 Most <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>formation about Rebay cited or quoted <strong>in</strong> this article isdrawn from Joan M . Lukach's biography,<br />
Hilla Rebay, In Search <strong>of</strong> the Spirit <strong>in</strong> Art (George Braziller, New York, 1983), to which readers are referred for<br />
a full account <strong>of</strong> this remarkable and enigmatic woman's career. Lukach cites Harvard's Carpenter Center for<br />
the Visual Arts as an example on an expanded scale <strong>of</strong> how Rebay's film center might have developed .<br />
2 However, Richter survived until 1978, when he was 88 years old .<br />
3 Those concerned with Rebay's later personality difficulties may be <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> know<strong>in</strong>g that for a ten-year<br />
period she suffered one severe illness after another. In 1917 she was hospitalized with "an attack <strong>of</strong> nerves"<br />
after which she had migra<strong>in</strong>es for a decade or more . In 1918 she twice had diphtheria, a disease which<br />
usually was fatal; that same year her tonsils were removed, result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> throat ailments thereafter. (In 1919<br />
she shared a studio with Rudolf Bauer, a pa<strong>in</strong>ter who became her lover, mentor and tormentor, all <strong>in</strong> one .)<br />
In 1921, at age 30, she wrote : "I did not achieve anyth<strong>in</strong>g but <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>ite lonel<strong>in</strong>ess and hopelessness . . .<br />
to be always so unloved, so despised and hated, makes me sick at heart ." In 1925 <strong>in</strong> Italy, shewas hospitalized<br />
for three months and attempted suicide twice . At about that time she wrote to Bauer : "I have too much m me<br />
not to achieve someth<strong>in</strong>g great even if I am only a stupid woman . I will achieve someth<strong>in</strong>g anyway, preferably<br />
for others, but if not, then for myself ."<br />
"I will go to America," she wrote <strong>in</strong> 1925.<br />
"I must go to America." she wrote <strong>in</strong> 1926 . "Everyone says I should go to America."<br />
In January 1927, she made her first trip to new York, ready to beg<strong>in</strong> her mission .